running up that hill

Found out they are part of 1st. Commando Brigade of the Afghan National Army. They want ANA to take over most of the fighting so foregin forces can go home.

Afghanistan's national army, built up from scratch since the fall of the Taliban regime, is to graduate this week its first commando battalion, the latest step towards it being able to secure the country on its own and let foreign troops leave.

This exercise is the culmination of 90 days of rigorous training provided by U.S. Army Special Forces and Afghan special forces instructors to give these commandos advanced infantry and leadership training.

Afghan soldiers have gone through a rigorous 90-day training program under the guidance of U.S. Army Special Forces and Afghan special forces. The U.S. and Afghan instructors teach them advanced infantry tactics and leadership skills. The commandos will be used to fight the ongoing insurgency and terrorism plaguing the countryside. This is the first battalion to train here and to graduate commando training.

When we fish at night for striped bass, we use black because it is supposed to set up a better silhouette for the fish to see. Stripers have extraordinary night vision due to their eyes being equipped with more rod receptors and the same type of reflective material as cats. The reflective material in the eyeball makes the image appear to double, enhancing it's transmission on the optic nerve. Having used other colors besides black at night, I can say that at least with stripers black is better... ;)